Daily Times

The book launching ceremony of famous Naat poet Ansarullah Qureshi known as Gohar Azmi was held at Arts Council of Pakistan Karachi on Saturday.

Two books of Gohar Azmi including ‘Qatarysa Gohar Honay Tak’ and ‘Khawah Mukhawah’ were launched on the occasion. The first book is his autobiography and the second one is humorous critique on the social and cultural rebels of the society.

Dr Pirzada Qasim and Raza Siddiqui chaired the ceremony whereas Dost Muhammad Faizi, Dr. S.M Moeen Qureshi, Tajdar Adil, Razwan Siddiqui, Tahir Sultani, Iqbal Latif and Shakil Khan spoke on the occasion. Hafiz Nouman Tahir formally started the ceremony with the recitation of the Holy Quran.

Addressing the ceremony, Dr Pirzada Qasim said that Gohar Azmi was a highly celebrated writer of our time. He said that in a time when overall readership was dropping, Azmi was successful in launching two books. He said that the first book ‘Qatarysa Gohar Honay Tak’ was the author’s autobiography in which he wrote about different events which occurred in his life. He also read out some excerpts of the book for the audience.

Raza Siddiqui said that Gohar Azmi was gifted in two ways. He said that the author could pen Naats and Hamds but was also a critical and humorous poet who was well aware of societal flaws. Appreciating the author, Siddiqui said that he lived his life to the fullest and considered it a gift from God. “We should appreciate him for his writing particularly his services for Urdu literature,” he said. Siddiqui told the audience that Gohar Azmi wrote twenty two books.

Tajdar Adil said that the way Gohar Azmi wrote reflected the culture and civilised background of our society. He requested Gohar Azmi to write for children to give them a particular direction.

Dost Muhammad Faizi said Gohar Azmi was a writer of 22 books and all of his books were the part of our culture and represented our civilization. He appreciated the author for penning his autobiography and said that the volume was a new addition to his contributions to literature. Other speakers read excerpts from Azmi’s new books and praised his work.

At the end of ceremony, Gohar Azmi thanked the guests for attending his book launch and also thanked the management of Arts Council of Pakistan for organising the event.

Published in Daily Times, December 9^th 2018.